Flash fixation apparatus with gas unit and printer using the...

Electrophotography – Internal machine environment – Forced air circulation

Reexamination Certificate

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Details

C399S093000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06775492

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a flash fixation apparatus for fixing toners on a medium by means of flash light and a printer using the same, and more particularly a flash fixation apparatus for collecting gas produced from the toners during flash fixation and a printer using the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a printer for forming toner images in which the electrophotographic scheme of the like is employed, an image is formed by means of a powder toner on a print medium. The toner image is then fixed by fusing the powder toner placed on the print medium. To fix the toner image, it is necessary to apply fixation energy onto the print medium.
In a high-speed printer, a non-contact type fixation method is employed as a fixation method for applying the fixation energy. It is suitable to use the non-contact type fixation method in the high-speed printer because high fixation energy can be applied without influencing transportation of the print medium.
As one method of this non-contact type fixation method, a flash fixation method employing flash light produced by a flash lamp. In the flash fixation method, light is emitted from the flash lamp at predetermined intervals corresponding to the transportation of the print medium to fix on each predetermined area of the print medium.
FIG. 18
shows a configuration diagram of the conventional flash fixation unit. In a flash fixation unit
13
, a flash lamp
101
and a reflection plate
102
are accommodated in a lamp house
100
. The lamp house
100
on the paper
110
side is covered with a glass plate
103
to isolate the internal portion of the lamp house
100
from outside.
A toner image
114
is formed on the paper
110
guided by a pair of carrying rollers
112
and
116
. The paper
110
is carried continuously while maintaining a position opposite to the glass plate
103
and is received the flashlight emitted from the flash lamp
101
. The toner
114
on the paper
110
is abruptly heated by the energy applied from the flashlight, producing gas (evaporated gas) C from the toner
114
.
Gas C adheres onto the flash lamp
101
, the glass plate
103
for protecting the lamp
101
, the print paper
110
, the carrying roller
116
outside the fixation unit, etc. If the gas having adhered is not removed, the gas may cause a failure, such as a decreased fixation ratio, degraded print quality and malfunction of medium transportation.
Conventionally, in order to circumvent this problem, there has been provided a suction mechanism (or degassing mechanism)
104
on the rear side of the flash fixation unit for collecting the gas (evaporated gas) C to suck and deodorize. This mechanism enables to prevent gas adhesion to the lamp house
100
, the paper
110
and the carrying roller
116
, by which smell diffusion can also be prevented.
However, as print speed of a printer becomes higher in recent years, transportation speed of the paper
110
becomes higher and, at the same time, higher fixation speed is required. This has required an increased amount of gas generation produced from the toner
114
on the paper
110
, resulting in a tendency of gas leakage in the downstream side of the flash fixation unit, that is the transportation direction of the paper
110
, as shown by arrow B.
To prevent the gas leakage in the conventional art, it is normally necessary to increase either suction power or suction area so that the produced gas can be sufficiently sucked by suction mechanism
104
, as shown in
FIG. 19
, and gas collection efficiency can be increased.
However, when increasing the suction power, pressure to float up out of the transportation plane is produced on the paper
110
, caused by the gas (evaporated gas) suction with an increased wind velocity/pressure. This produces the paper under transportation to flutter easily.
In the conventional configuration, the paper
110
is guided by the carrying rollers
112
and
116
disposed at the front and rear sides of the flash fixation unit, which produces a reduced tension of the paper
110
between the carrying rollers
112
and
116
. Therefore, when increased suction power is applied, the paper is apt to float up to a large extent, resulting in an unfixed image on the paper
110
possibly contacting to the upper surface of the transportation path (glass plate
103
). This produces the fixed image on the paper
110
to adhere to a suction duct of the suction mechanism
104
, causing a trouble in the print result such as dimmed print.
Furthermore, in order to increase the suction power, a large-scale suction blower (having large suction capability) is required. This brings about not only a larger blower in size but also increase of noise and cost. Another method for preventing the paper from fluttering during transportation is to suck the gas from the opposite side of the suction mechanism
104
across the paper
110
. However, it is difficult to conduct air balancing, which makes it difficult to prevent from contacting to the paper
110
. Moreover, the suction from the opposite side requires more suction capability than inherently required for the gas collection in the suction blower. This results in requiring a larger suction blower in size.
In a yet another method, it may be possible to increase the suction area while maintaining necessary suction time within a limit. This method also brings about larger suction mechanism
104
as well as larger suction blower, resulting in the unit substantially larger in size with increased noise and cost.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a flash fixation apparatus for improving efficiency in collecting gas (evaporated gas) produced from toner at the time of flash fixation while preventing a medium trouble in printing and a printer using the flash fixation apparatus.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a flash fixation apparatus for improving efficiency in collecting gas produced from toner at the time of flash fixation without applying large suction power in high-speed printing, and a printer using the flash fixation apparatus.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a flash fixation apparatus for improving gas collection efficiency of the gas produced from toner at the time of flash fixation without need of a large unit in size even for high-speed printing, and a printer using the flash fixation apparatus.
Further, it is still another object of the present invention to provide a flash fixation apparatus for improving gas collection efficiency of the gas produced from toner during flash fixation while preventing a print medium under transportation from flattering, and a printer using the flash fixation apparatus.
To attain the above-mentioned objects, according to the present invention, a flash fixation apparatus for fixing a toner image on a medium under transportation by means of flash light includes; a flash fixation unit for emitting the flash light; a gas collector being disposed at the downstream side toward the medium transportation direction of the flash fixation unit for collecting vapor gas produced in flash fixation; and a guide being disposed between the flash fixation unit and the gas collector for altering the medium transportation direction. The aforementioned gas collector has a gas suction face disposed along the altered transportation direction.
Further, according to the present invention, a printer for forming a toner image onto a medium being transported at a predetermined transportation velocity includes; an image forming unit for forming a toner image onto the medium; and a flash fixation unit for fixing the toner image generated on the medium by means of flashlight. The flash fixation unit further includes, a flash fixation device for emitting the flash light; a gas collector being disposed at the downstream side toward the medium transportation direction of the flash fixation device for collecting vapor gas produced in flash fixation; and a guide being disposed be

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